eyes of africa

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Im stuck in bamako with a horrible etye infection asking myself why did I put my contacts on with such dirty fingers, I had it coming... btw that I consider rather funny that after a month drinking tap water, from deposits, and from wells that looked fairly dirty, after one month of walking with tshirts under the sun of africa, one month taking the crazy lariam, one month eating with my hands food touched by random peoples hands, one month eating street food covered with flies that looked fairly scary and buying fruits in in the market, one month underfed, one mlonth not using antimosquitoes in africa, one month (I have to confess) using water instead of toilet paper, well, my only health probmem is not diarrea,, vomits, parasites, sunburn, paranoia, skins infection, malaria, cholera, hep a, mood changes or dehidration... but a goddamn eye infection. argh! well; its starting to look better (Im staying at a catholique mission and soeur janne takes gooood care of me :D) and I hope Ill make it tomorrow to my next stop in segou then mopti then dogon country then hombori and then who knows...

but the clever topic of this post adresses not only to my eye problem, but to your eyes on africa. see, to sthose of you who are not very familiar with africa the pictures Ive sent might make you think that west africa is a kind of beautiful side of the planet, which it is, but only once you get used to the DIRT, CAOS, and general MALFUNCTIONING it is founded on. as such, I will make some remarks and upload some pictures about africa


*I had always pretty much hated insects since a couple of years ago I had a problem with a spider visiting my lips. thanks to africa that problem is over. I have seen cockroaches so big every single day that by now insects, particuylarly coicroaches which I always found pretty disgusting, dont are much of a matter and when showing up i just gently wipe them with my feet away if theyre close to my food.

*I never though I could get used to seeing children naked walking around a city and jumping in puddles after a big rain, but indeed it has happened so.

*also, streets without concrete are the norm now, and if they have you expect it to be rather a hassle cause of how bad is its state

*it is pretty much assumed that taxis here dont have handles in their doors; that those doors might open unexpectedly if you lean on them for too long, that the windws have to be moved up or down by holding them from the inside and outside at the same time and pulling or pushing accordingly, that the inside of the car, if it had some plastic (like a floor, a cover for the doors) wont have it anymore, that a brach of a tree holds the trunck, and that you can feet anything from a tree to a few goats in a car; and that a sept place; which we all know was meant to be for 5 persons; can easily handle 11.

*sometimes you have to go in top of the trucks and beware of the branches, I have an ugly looking scar that reminds me of that. sometimes you have to stand out of the lil truncks called yagan yae in senegaland hold yourself to the windows

*300 kilometers means pretty much a day of travelling

*rice is eaten without more utensils than your hands

*instead of pigeons in the cities here watched by voltures

*if a rat finds a cat, the cat better run cause rats are usually just as big and way more bitchy

*its cheaper to buy a new donkey than to feed an old one

*most people you talk to have had malaria

*any hole is a toilet, in any wall you can pee unless it belongs to a mosquee

*houses outside the city are made of mud

*mosquitoes will fucking eat you alive if you dont have long pants, dragonflies are everywhere, and some mosquitoes are bigger than dragonflies

*cars turn off their engines whenever they can use gravity as a power source

*goats, donkeys and horned cows are everywhere in little towns and in not few places of the cities

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Photos

yaganyae
typical senegalese transport, they cand o anything from 20 to 500 km

me in yaganyae roof
just before being hit by a huge branch

african seagulls
oh yeah, wating for some waste dumping in the beach...

bus station
this is a typical senegalese bus station, notice the goat in there as well as the "buses" (those long cars and minibuses)

deluxe toilet
this is by far NOT the dirtiest toilet Ive found in africa, but its smelled was pretty... thick; lets say.

mali bus station
mali sept place, you can fit seven big malians in that thing and travel in it for hours. not too safe at night.

kids playing
but the kids here, thats beautiful.

girl afraid
girl afraid fo the tubab (white). she said her mum: does he like me?cause I dont like him

desalinio
spanish word to describe exactly the look me and my pal youssuf have in that picture

Comments

[DÁVILA]

ueeeeeeeeeeeeehe
Cómo está ese drankulín, bueno pablito, perdón! jordi me dijo que estabas registrando tu viaje por este portal, y me he pasado pa ver qué tal lo llevas. me alegro de que vaya bien todo. comentarte que viendo lo que escribes y sabiendo lo enorme que es Africa, pues que todo en Africa funciona según el mismo patron, y casi todas las afirmaciones que haces sobre West Africa, valen para East Africa, joder y dices "eso tb lo he vivido yo! y haces que tenga unas ganas de volver a Africa enormes, que creo que será pronto si el proyecto sigue su curso y todo va bien. ...cuando hablas de servicios sucios, insectos, comer con las manos, misioneros, jovenes aventureros, niños everywhere, atardeceres de película, joder...se me pone el vello de punta. bueno joven, cuidao con los mosquitos (yo por ahora no he sufrido nuevo brote de malaria y cruzo los dedos), y a ver si nos vemos por Gr en septiembre y compartimos experiencias con otro sugarpop y la puerta de la barra jaja. ánimo!, que seguro que lo necesitas y à très bientôt!!